Liberty County Health Department staff, along with breast-cancer survivors from the BRAVE III (Be Readily Available and Very Empathetic) Project, recently raffled off a handmade quilt and raised nearly $500 for the Susan G. Komen Coastal Georgia Affiliate.

The mission of BRAVE is to increase access to preventive breast-health education, and provide mammograms, early diagnostic procedures and client navigator and tracking services to African-American women in rural Liberty County and Hispanic women in Long County. The project has received grants from the Komen Coastal Georgia Affiliate for the past several years and, as a result, more than 500 women have been screened for breast cancer and more than 300 have received free mammograms.

“Fundraising is a way that women who have benefited from the BRAVE grant can give something back to the Komen Coastal Georgia Affiliate so other women can benefit from similar services in the future,” Liberty County Health Department Nurse Manager Annie Washington, R.N., said.

Fleming resident Eunice Dudley made the quilt. Coastal Health District Health Director Diane Weems, M.D., and a breast-cancer survivor, won it.

“It is so fitting that Dr. Weems is the recipient of the quilt,” Washington said. “She has really done a lot to promote breast-cancer education and awareness in Liberty County and is a great champion for the BRAVE project.”